Ballots to remain uncounted in MI and Stein blocked in Philly. Guest: Election integrity, law expert Paul Lehto says this proves 'only option is to get it right on Election Night'. Also: Trump taps climate denier, fossil-fuel tool for EPA...

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Obama calls again for eliminating billions in oil subsidies; Coal mine owner Massey Energy kept two sets of books; U.S. Interstate Highway system proves federal infrastructure good for business; PLUS: Jellyfish attack a nuclear power plant --- no, really --- natural disasters and the Achilles heel of the U.S. nuclear industry ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

[A] greater number published contradicting studies. Their papers showed that the growing amount of greenhouse gasses that humans were putting into the atmosphere would cause much greater warming - warming that would a much greater influence on global temperature than any possible natural or human-caused cooling effects.
...
The fact is that around 1970 there were 6 times as many scientists predicting a warming rather than a cooling planet. Today, with 30+years more data to analyse, we've reached a clear scientific consensus: 97% of working climate scientists agree with the view that human beings are causing global warming.

So the bottom line is this: Any agreement to reduce our deficit is going to require tough decisions and balanced solutions. And before we ask our seniors to pay more for health care, before we cut our children’s education, before we sacrifice our commitment to the research and innovation that will help create more jobs in the economy, I think it’s only fair to ask an oil company or a corporate jet owner that has done so well to give up a tax break that no other business enjoys. I don’t think that’s real radical. I think the majority of Americans agree with that.

Massey Energy pressured workers at a West Virginia coal mine where an explosion killed 29 men to omit safety problems from official reports for the government while the company kept another set of accurate books for itself, government regulators say.
...
The two sets of books were kept because the company wanted to avoid scrutiny from inspectors and keep coal production running smoothly, workers told Mine Safety and Health Administration investigators, according to agency official Kevin Stricklin.

MSHA's top lawyer, Patricia Smith, told the families that both MSHA and the U.S. Department of Justice were closely examining the two sets of books for potential violations of civil and criminal statutes that require accurate recording of hazards.

NRDC's annual survey of water quality and public notification at U.S. beaches finds that the number of beach closings and advisories in 2010 reached 24,091 - the second-highest level since NRDC began tracking these events 21 years ago, confirming that our nation's beaches continue to suffer from bacterial pollution that puts swimmers at risk.

Southern California snagged the most spots on a list of "repeat offenders," where contamination-mostly from human and animal waste in storm runoff-exceeded national standards at least a quarter of the time over the last four years.

When Jellyfish Attack: Natural Disasters and the Achilles Heel of the U.S. Nuclear Industry

No nuclear plant is without risks, and the flooding will complicate getting the Nebraska reactor back up and running. But "basically what we found was … good news," said David Lochbaum, director of the nuclear safety project for the scientists group, which is based in Washington.

[S]ome estimates of evacuation times have not been updated in decades, even as the population has increased more than ever imagined. Emergency plans would direct residents to flee on antiquated, two-lane roads that clog hopelessly at rush hour.

And evacuation zones have remained frozen at a 10-mile radius from each plant since they were set in 1978 - despite all that has happened since, including the accidents at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima Dai-ichi in Japan.

As America's nuclear power plants have aged, the once-rural areas around them have become far more crowded and much more difficult to evacuate. Yet government and industry have paid little heed, even as plants are running at higher power and posing more danger in the event of an accident, an Associated Press investigation has found.

'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (Stuff we didn't have time for in today's audio report)...

For the planet as a whole, 2010 was one of the two warmest years on record, according to three independent datasets detailed in the latest State of the Climate report, released today by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the American Meteorological Society.

The year 2005 tops the list of warmest years since temperature recordkeeping began in 1880.

Extreme floods, prolonged droughts, searing heat waves, massive rainstorms and the like don't just seem like they've become the new normal in the last few years-they have become more common, according to data collected by reinsurance company Munich Re (see Part 1 of this series).